House Resolution 121

(As Adopted by House)

A RESOLUTION COMMENDING MRS. VERSIE V. JONES NELSON FOR HER MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO JONESTOWN COMMUNITY AND SERVICES TO ST. EMMANUEL MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH.

WHEREAS, Mrs. Versie Vera Jones Nelson was born May 23, 1915, to Mr. Meadie Jones and Mrs. Lou Ella Jackson Jones, the fourth of nine children; and

WHEREAS, having lived her entire life in the Jonestown Community of Yazoo City, Mississippi, and the only surviving original resident, Mrs. Nelson attended the two-room Jonestown School taught by Mrs. Anna Walker before transferring to the No. 2 School in Yazoo City, where she had to pay a Three-Dollar monthly attendance tuition and walk two miles daily; and

WHEREAS, at the conclusion of her formal educational career, she went to work for the family business at her sister's restaurant, Hallie B. Fox Hamburgers, before gaining employment with the Barbour family, where she helped rear Governor Haley Barbour; and

WHEREAS, having acknowledged her faith in Christ, Mrs. Nelson began her Christian walk at an early age by becoming a member of St. Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church under Reverend S.A. Jones, and has remained a faithful and devoted member thereof since her baptism in the Old Yazoo River; and

WHEREAS, during her membership at St. Emmanuel, Mrs. Nelson has rarely missed a Sunday service and has served as church secretary, choir president and Sunday school superintendent, a position she currently maintains; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Nelson, known for her loving and gracious personality, was married to Booker Nelson and mothered one child, a daughter, Doris Nelson Jones; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Nelson, known most extensively as "Mrs. Butter," is considered the community historian because of her longevity in the community and her ability to vividly recount the community's rich historical timeline, including how the community came to be known as Jonestown, the 1933 Tornado that swept through the community flooding her home and many others, the Yazoo Clinic (the community hospital), the community's only two churches, the cemetery and the names of every family that lived in Jonestown; and

WHEREAS, widely respected in the Jonestown and Yazoo City communities, Mrs. Nelson's humble and genteel spirit makes it a joyous occasion to share fellowship with her; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to recognize and commend such outstanding individuals as Mrs. Nelson, whose life is a beacon of hope and a wealth of history to many up and coming generations of Jonestown inhabitants:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby commend Mrs. Versie V. Jones Nelson for her many outstanding contributions to the Jonestown community and to the St. Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Mrs. Versie Nelson and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.